A big new sunspot (AR1618) has emerged near the center of the solar disk, and it is crackling with strong M-class solar flares.
NOAA forecasters estimate a 70% chance of more M-flares today, and a 15% chance of powerful X-flares.
If the rapid growth of AR1618 continues at this pace, the Thanksgiving holiday (USA) and the next few days could be filled with stormy space weather!
For the none-radiio hams reading this, the sun is a star, a hot ball of glowing gases at the heart of our solar system. Its influence extends far beyond the orbits of distant Neptune and Pluto.
Without the sun’s intense energy and heat, there would be no life on Earth. And though it is special to us, there are billions of stars like our sun scattered across the Milky Way galaxy which also influence heavily the regions around them.
